1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for monitoring a remote machine, in particular, to a method for updating an Electronic Data Sheet corresponding to a remote machine stored in a local computer and reconfiguring parameter settings of the remote machine via a computer network.
2. Description of Prior Art
Electronic Data Sheet (also abbreviated as EDS) is a prior art general format used for recording various internal parameter settings of a remote machine, such as remote machine model numbers, remote machine firmware version numbers, remote machine product categories etc . . . . Accordingly, users may access the EDS of remote machine to retrieve various internal parameter settings of the remote machine. Similarly, various internal parameter settings of the remote machine can be reconfigured by updating the EDS of remote machine.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a prior art method using Electronic Data Sheet to control a remote machine. A local computer 10A is installed with a browser 12A. The browser 12A can be a known application such as an Internet Explorer or Firefox etc. A remote machine 20A has the EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A. The EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A has the parameter settings of the remote machine 20A. The local computer 10A is electrically coupled to the remote machine 20A. The local computer 10A initiates a browser 12A and establishes an internet link to the remote machine 20A to access the EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A for retrieving various internal parameter settings of the remote machine 20A. By the method above, the local computer 10A monitors the operations of the remote machine 20A. When the remote machine 20A is a motor or a sensor, the local computer 10A utilizes the method to accurately monitor the operations of the remote machine 20A and perform tasks or parameter measurements.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a prior art method using Electronic Data Sheet to control a remote machine to further illustrate the operations performed in the FIG. 1 in details. With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, at first the local computer 10A initiates the browser 12A at step S10 and establishes the computer network link to the remote machine 20A. At the following step S20, the local computer 10A accesses to the EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A stored in the machine 20A and displays the content of the EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A at the local computer 10A for retrieving the parameter settings of the remote machine 20A.
However, the biggest challenge of the prior art method is that the EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A is stored in the remote machine 20A instead of the local computer 10A. According to the prior art method, it is only allowed to initiate the browser 12A at the local computer 10A and establish the computer network link to the remote machine 20A to access the EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A stored in the remote machine 20A and to display the content of the EDS 22A of the remote machine 20A. Consequently, the prior art method only provides means for retrieving the parameter settings of the remote machine 20A and does not provide means for reconfiguring the parameter settings of the remote machine 20A. Therefore, when a remote machine requires maintenance upon machine failure or an update on the machine firmware, users are not allowed to perform maintenance or firmware updates on a computer network. Users have to send the remote machine back to the manufacturer or utilize other complicated means for maintenance or firmware updates. The overall process is inconvenient as well as time and labor consuming.